


Kamli

by betony



Category: Dhoom | Blast (2004 2006)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-02
Updated: 2014-08-02
Packaged: 2018-02-11 10:14:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2064198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betony/pseuds/betony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What comes next for Aaliya, and the Great Indian Circus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kamli

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Franzeska](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Franzeska/gifts).



Aaliya knows the way this works. Smile pretty at the boss, hope he takes a shine to you and opens up doors to bigger and better things. Paid off pretty well for her mother, too, except when her mother's manager left her pregnant and alone in a foreign country. It would be easier, too, if Sahir Khan wasn't the grouchiest boss she's ever had. Apart from correcting her posture at rehearsals and the occasional begrudging nod of approval, she isn't even sure he knows she's alive.  


Still. There's two minutes near the end of every show when the boss looks at her like she's starlight and gold all in one, like she's the only thing that matters in the universe.  


She stays for those two minutes. She stays out of greed for something more.  
  


* * *

Aaliya would be the first to admit that she doesn't actually love dancing. Not that she isn't good at it--please, all those compliments she recited? One hundred percent earned. But it's just, dancing is one of those things that her mother taught her, and Aaliya learned because Ma needed something to do between performances, and it pays the bills until she earns the lottery and doesn't have to work any longer, 

And if the lottery comes in the form of a short, scowl drink of water called Sahir Khan, well, Aaliya can imagine worse things, okay? 

It's a good gig at first. Better hours than the club, not to mention the the boss's appraisal of her, even when he watched her peel off layer after layer of clothing, . It's frustrating and comforting at the same time. The circus pays less, of course, so she still has to pick up the odd job waitressing or managing a carnival booth, but that's nothing compared to what she's had to do before. Still, when her dates ask her what she does, she has to dance around the subject of where exactly she works, because a circus sounds so....juvenile. She's not surprised, actually, that the boss doesn't know how to tie his own shoes. 

Aaliya is content for the moment, if not quite set for life. It's enough, until that terrible morning when the police knock on her door. The boss actually has a _twin_ , did she know? Oh, right, and one of the twins has a...soft corner for her, and if she comes with the police, _right now_ , she can save them. 

What a lie that was. 

After the bridge, all she can think is that the Great Indian Circus still has a contact for three more months. The boss is really going to think hard to get out of this one; unlike everyone else, Aaliya's got a fair eye for costs and a shrewd guess as to how much debt the Great Indian Circus must have incurred. Then, of course, the Indian officers put the paperwork for the circus in her hands, effectively making it her problem. 

To make matters worse, in the boss's absence, everyone looks to her for direction. It makes sense, in a way; after the boss, she has the most stage time, and the other dancers are used to watching her for their cues. She says: "Let's go, guys, from the top" and then, abruptly, remembers that they can't. The boss isn't here to swing from the rafters over their audience in that reckless way he had and all Aaliya can think to do to fill his absence is add a couple of extra twirls here and there. Besides, it's not even as though it'll work, is it? There's no way to pull off the disappearing trick without a spare twin, and of course the boss was so reckless with his stunts--if he fell and broke his neck, well, he had a replacement all ready to go. Aaliya has no such security. 

Aaliya is seconds away from going back out and announcing to the rest of the Circus that the show is done, debt be damned, when it hits her: the boss's whole show, his whole creation, dealt with cheating death, of finding impossible solutions, of deceit and answers that were plain to see if you really looked. Everything that he had been he had put into his show, and if Aaliya wants to keep the circus running, she'll have to do the same. 

If she still wants to --but no. That's not fair. She might not have loved the boss (or his twin; she's still not entirely sure who had been who in the end), but he had loved her, and that should count for something. 

* * *

The Great Indian Circus opens one week later, to account for new management. This show is all about its heroine, who betrays her lover and walks through fire--literally, because the boss had a contract for pyrotechnics that they had to use somehow--to atone for it. Above it all, Aaliya spins and pivots and burns, thinking that somewhere, the boss must be watching. 

Somewhere, she thinks, he must approve.

**Author's Note:**

> Dear Franzeska, I tried my best to write a story that captures the wacky insanity of the Dhoom movies, but this, it turns out, is the story that popped out instead despite my best efforts. I hope you enjoy it nevertheless!


End file.
